Pru Life UK’s Pulse
Promoting universal healthcare for all, one tap at a time Words by Jewel Sta. Ana | Photos by Carmela Birao
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or millions of people in the Philippines, the rising cost of medical care is a daunting challenge. Medical costs in the country are the second-highest in Southeast Asia, according to data from Mercer Marsh Benefits, threatening families with financial ruin if they require treatments far beyond what they can afford. In an effort to help make healthcare affordable and accessible to all, Pru Life UK is introducing a ground-breaking health app that will support Filipinos in preventing, postponing and protecting themselves against the onset of disease.
What is Pulse? A free-for-all health app, Pulse delivers holistic health management and wellbeing information straight to consumers’ smartphones. This is made possible through innovative, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools integrated into the app, leveraging cutting-edge technologies. This breaks the barrier of time and geography between medical professionals and patients, offering 24/7 self-help tools and real-time personalized services while reminding them to seek immediate health consultation. To provide a digital-first healthcare gateway for users, Pru Life UK’s mother company Prudential plc partnered with healthcare tech companies, such as Babylon, to deliver value-added services to customers. Babylon is a UK-based company that ties up with National Health Service, the publicly funded healthcare system of the United Kingdom, to make British healthcare services mobile and more accessible. Babylon’s AI technology focuses on a knowledge graph, comprehensive health record, and the probabilistic graphical model which puts patients in control of their health.
Pru Life UK’s headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig has a cozy lobby for its clients.
Pulse was launched in Malaysia, and has been introduced in the Philippines and Indonesia in February. Its debut in Malaysia last year received initial positive responses, recording more than 700,000 downloads. To tailor the app for Filipinos, Pru Life UK senior vice president and chief customer marketing officer Allan Tumbaga shared that they put the English version into a local context for accurate data assessment. “It will get further
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